Familiar Hypothesis Research Articles

Material Heuristics and Attitudes Toward Redistribution

ABSTRACT According to the material-heuristics hypothesis, people’s socioeconomic position affects their perceptions about the socioeconomic environment, including how society distributes opportunities and rewards and to what extent people are responsible for their own economic situation. These perceptions, in turn, affect attitudes toward wealth redistribution. In contrast to the material-heuristics hypothesis are the more familiar material self-interest hypothesis, which relates redistributive attitudes to one’s personal interest in gaining or losing from redistribution; and the self-serving reasoning hypothesis, according to which perceptions of how society distributes opportunities and rewards are a consequence rather than a cause of attitudes toward redistribution, which are, in turn, driven by material self-interest. All three hypotheses connect socioeconomic position and attitudes toward redistribution, but only the material-heuristics and the self-serving reasoning arguments account for why perceptions of the causes of wealth and poverty vary across economic groups and why this variation matters for attitudes toward redistribution. Ignoring the role of such perceptions can lead to the simplistic attribution of attitudes toward redistribution to personal self-interest.

Changes in cognitive flexibility and hypothesis search across human life history from childhood to adolescence to adulthood

How was the evolution of our unique biological life history related to distinctive human developments in cognition and culture? We suggest that the extended human childhood and adolescence allows a balance between exploration and exploitation, between wider and narrower hypothesis search, and between innovation and imitation in cultural learning. In particular, different developmental periods may be associated with different learning strategies. This relation between biology and culture was probably coevolutionary and bidirectional: life-history changes allowed changes in learning, which in turn both allowed and rewarded extended life histories. In two studies, we test how easily people learn an unusual physical or social causal relation from a pattern of evidence. We track the development of this ability from early childhood through adolescence and adulthood. In the physical domain, preschoolers, counterintuitively, perform better than school-aged children, who in turn perform better than adolescents and adults. As they grow older learners are less flexible: they are less likely to adopt an initially unfamiliar hypothesis that is consistent with new evidence. Instead, learners prefer a familiar hypothesis that is less consistent with the evidence. In the social domain, both preschoolers and adolescents are actually the most flexible learners, adopting an unusual hypothesis more easily than either 6-y-olds or adults. There may be important developmental transitions in flexibility at the entry into middle childhood and in adolescence, which differ across domains.

A short essay on quantum black holes and underlying noncommutative quantized space-time

We emphasize the importance of noncommutative geometry or Lorenz-covariant quantized space-time towards the ultimate theory of quantum gravity and Planck scale physics. We focus our attention on the statistical and substantial understanding of the Bekenstein–Hawking area-entropy law of black holes in terms of the kinematical holographic relation (KHR). KHR manifestly holds in Yang’s quantized space-time as the result of kinematical reduction of spatial degrees of freedom caused by its own nature of noncommutative geometry, and plays an important role in our approach without any recourse to the familiar hypothesis, so-called holographic principle. In the present paper, we find a unified form of KHR applicable to the whole region ranging from macroscopic to microscopic scales in spatial dimension d = 3. We notice a possibility of nontrivial modification of area-entropy law of black holes which becomes most remarkable in the extremely microscopic system close to Planck scale.

The interaction of publications and appointments: new evidence on academic economists in Germany

Using a new panel data set comprising publication and appointment data for 889 German academic economists over a quarter of a century, we confirm the familiar hypothesis that publications are important for professorial appointments, but find only a small negative effect of appointments on subsequent research productivity, in particular if one controls for the presence of top researchers (‘stars’). Surprisingly, the research output of stars drops significantly more than the average in the aftermath of an appointment. We also provide some evidence of the effects of the fundamental reform of economics in Germany and of affirmative action procedures.

Sources of Economics Majors: More Biology, Less Business

This paper uses national data from 1975 to 2003 to examine which alternative academic disciplines were chosen by undergraduates as if they were complements to, or substitutes for, an economics major. One familiar hypothesis suggests that majoring in economics is a reluctant choice for students more interested in a business major. However, when the proportion of economics majors is considered across all disciplines, I find a striking inverse relation between the shares of graduating majors in economics and those in biology; no relationship between any other two disciplines is closer. The paper closes with speculations about possible reasons for the strong negative relation between the shares of graduates in biology and economics.

Metacognition and Memory for Nonoccurrence

A familiar hypothesis about the recognition of distractor items as “new”; is that it depends heavily on a metacognitive strategy in which the memorability or salience of the distractor is evaluated: if the item was deemed salient or memorable and yet no memory trace for it can be found, then it must not have been studied (e.g. Strack & Bless, 1994). In four experiments, no evidence was found to support this metamemory hypothesis. Experiments 1a, 1b, and 2 demonstrated that the judged salience of the stimuli did not predict participants' recognition judgements for distractors. In Experiments 3a and 3b, instructional manipulations designed to affect the ostensible metacognitive process failed to affect the recognition judgements. Finally, Experiment 4 indicated that confidence judgements do not support the predictions of the metamemory hypothesis.

Policy and non-policy economic determinants of inter-regional migration of workers in a developing country: Some new evidence based on a polytomous logit model for India

This paper utilises the framework of a Polytomous Logit Model for analysing and testing the economic behaviour of worker migrants between different regions (states) in India. The model is estimated, perhaps for the first time in India, with policy and non-policy economic variables, using 1971 Population (migration) Census data. The empirical results with regard to policy variables provide new evidence that federal transfers have resource (labour) allocation effects rather than pure income redistribution effects and that workers move from high tax regions to low tax regions. The results support the familiar Tiebout hypothesis and argue for an inter-regional migration policy for India as well as for other developing countries.

Spatial harmonics and pattern specification in early Drosophila development. Part II. The four colour wheels model

We review the evidence presented in Part I showing that transcripts and protein products of maternal, gap, pair-rule, and segment polarity genes exhibit increasingly complex, multipeaked longitudinal waveforms in the early Drosophila embryo. The central problem we address in Part II is the use the embryo makes of these wave forms to specify longitudinal pattern. Based on the fact that mutants of many of these genes generate deletions and mirror symmetrical duplications of pattern elements on length scales ranging from about half the egg to within segments, we propose that position is specified by measuring a "phase angle" by use of the ratios of two or more variables. Pictorially, such a phase angle can be thought of as a colour on a colour wheel. Any such model contains a phaseless singularity where all or many phases, or colours, come together. We suppose as well that positional values sufficiently close to the singularity are meaningless, hence a "dead zone". Duplications and deletions are accounted for by deformation of the cycle of morphogen values occurring along the antero-posterior axis. If the cycle of values surrounds the singularity and lies outside the dead zone, pattern is normal. If the curve transects the dead zone, pattern elements are deleted. If the curve lies entirely on one side of the singularity, pattern elements are deleted and others are duplicated with mirror symmetry. The existence of different wavelength transcript patterns in maternal, gap, pair-rule, and segment polarity genes and the roles of those same genes in generating deletions and mirror symmetrical duplications on a variety of length scales lead us to propose that position is measured simultaneously on at least four colour wheels, which cycle different numbers of times along the anterior-posterior axis. These yield progressively finer grained positional information. Normal pattern specification requires a unique angle, outside of the dead zone, from each of the four wheels. Deformations of the cycle of gene product concentrations yield the deletions and mirror symmetric duplications observed in the mutants discussed. The alternative familiar hypothesis that longitudinal position is specified in an "on" "off" combinatorial code does not readily account for the duplication deletion phenomena.

Correlation between glass transition temperature and thermal expansion coefficients of polymers: Its interpretation and implication

Abstract A new approach pertaining to the hole and lattice theories of polymeric systems is developed to interpret the universal inverse relationship between the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the difference in thermal expansion coefficients for liquid and glassy polymers (δ α). The success of this particular theoretical consideration rests upon the familiar hypothesis of the iso-free volume state at Tg and the entropy contribution to the hole-polymer segment interaction energy. Based on the experimental data available, we have established the free volume fraction at Tg, vg = 0.025, which is identical with the assessment of the empirical Williams-Landel-Ferry (WLF) equation for the temperature-dependence shift factor aT. However, appreciably higher values of vg are reported by other contemporary models. The present findings justify an alternative form of the WLF equation with the product Tg, δ α playing the role of δ α. The universality of this novel expression is demonstrated, by means of statisti...

Relative efficiency of cotton farms in Sudanese irrigated agriculture

In this paper the Lau-Yotopoulos profit function model is applied to data from the Sudan with the objective of investigating the relative technical, price and economic efficiency of different groups of cotton farms in the irrigated agricultural sub-sector. The findings of the paper lend no support to the Marshallian-based efficiency argument recently utilized by the Sudanese government to abolish the Joint Account system in favor of the Land-Water-Charge system in all irrigated schemes. The findings also establish the economic efficiency superiority of farms under medium staple cotton relative to those under long staple cotton. However, the hypothesis of absolute price efficiency (perfect profit maximization) was rejected for all groups of cotton farms. The latter result has a bearing on the familiar hypothesis that farmers in the less developed countries are “efficient but poor.”

Support for aging policy: Self-interest, social justice, and political symbols

This article explores and evaluates theoretical assumptions implied by the familiar hypothesis that anti-elderly scapegoating rhetoric is producing attitude change with respect to citizen support for aging policy. An explanation—the self-interest model—that is consistent with both this hypothesis and existing attitude theory is presented. It is contrasted with a second hypothesis emphasizing the role played by symbolic political attitudes in the formation of citizen policy positions. Survey data from the state of Kansas indicate no support for either the self-interest explanation of aging policy attitudes or for the hypothesized impact of anti-elderly rhetoric.

The familiar area hypothesis and movement patterns of wild forest reindeer in Karelia, Northern Europe

The relevance of the familiar area hypothesis to the behaviour of the wild forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus Lönnb.) was studied in a Fenno-Soviet project by radio and field tracking of these ungulates in Karelia, Northern Europe, in 1978 - 1985. This subpopulation (500 - 600 exx.) has a tradition of overwintering in a restricted area around Lake Lentua (ca. 1000 km2). The spring migration period is shorter in length than the autumn migration. The migration routes are generally the same in autumn and spring, although exceptions occur, indicating exploratory behaviour. The large winter herds disband into small groups or lone individuals for the summertime, when this subpopulation is spread over a much wider area (ca. 5400 km2). It is concluded that the observations made support the familiar area hypothesis in all essential points.

On the independence of short-term memory and working memory in cognitive development

We report some experiments that were concerned with the now familiar hypothesis that short-term memory and information processing draw upon a common pool of scarce resources. The results of two series of experiments were more consistent with the hypothesis that the resources that support short-term memory and information processing do not overlap and develop independently of each other. In Experiments 1–4, children's performance on four reasoning problems (class inclusion, conservation, probability judgment, and transitive inference) was found to be stochastically independent of their short-term memory for the critical background facts on these problems. Age changes in reasoning and short-term memory also proved to be independent. It was found in the second series of experiments that certain manipulations which affect the accuracy of children's reasoning do not affect short-term memory, and conversely. In Experiments 5–7, manipulations that affected the difficulty of information processing on class-inclusion and transitivity tasks did not affect short-term memory on these same tasks. In Experiments 8 and 9, manipulations that affected short-term retention of the background facts on conservation and probability-judgment tasks did not affect reasoning on these same tasks.

Dynamic Macroeconomic Stability with or without Equilibrium in Money and Labour Markets

A familiar proposition in the descriptive monetary growth literature is that perfect foresight in predicting the rate of inflation will typically cause saddlepoint-type instability in the movement of prices.' In an important and influential paper, Sargent and Wallace (1973) have shown that in a simple one-dimensional model stability can be restored by dropping the conventional assumption of continuous prices and instead allowing discontinuous price jumps to equilibrate the money market. In this paper we examine a two-dimensional system that, unlike the simple Sargent-Wallace formulation, is capable of generating dynamic equilibria which are legitimate saddlepoints, and thus we are able to analyse the behaviour along stable paths.2 These stable paths are of particular economic interest because they are implied by the familiar hypothesis that economic agents form convergent rational expectations.3 Our interest in a two-dimensional macroeconomic model is more than a trivial mathematical generalization. For example, in the one-dimensional SargentWallace model, the assumption of convergent rational expectations necessitates that prices adjust instantaneously, so that the economy is always at the dynamic equilibrium point. If in actuality prices in an economy adjust only sluggishly, then this procedure is illegitimate. We introduce a labour market and we allow for the possibility that the money market and the labour market will adjust at finite rates rather than being in continuous equilibrium. As relative speeds of adjustment vary in the two markets, this extended model is capable of generating a variety of dynamic time paths, including the familiar saddlepoint behaviour, convergence to a stable node, or divergence from an unstable node. The type of dynamic equilibrium that will prevail depends upon the values of parameters and hence is an empirical issue. The methods for stabilizing the system in the various cases, determined by the pattern of adjustment speeds, are described in Section I, with the more technical details being relegated to the Appendix. In particular, if the price level is not free to adjust, we show that stability can be obtained through the labour market. And, conversely, if labour market adjustment is not possible at an instant of time, we show how stability can be obtained through the money market. In Section II we analyse the effects of expansionary monetary policy for the

Childhood Obesity

This book is the outgrowth of a multiauthored symposium on nutrition held at Columbia University in December 1973. The editor, Myron Winick, professor of nutrition and pediatrics at Columbia, provides a useful introductory overview summarizing the four general topics discussed at the conference: (1) cellular changes; (2) obesity during critical periods of growth; (3) early nutrition and lipid metabolism; and (4) control of childhood obesity. In the first section, Hirsch of Rockefeller University succinctly summarizes his earlier work on cell number and cell size in obese adults before and after weight reduction. He discusses the now familiar hypothesis that obesity may be accompanied by an excessive number of adipocytes, possibly brought about by excess feeding in infancy and childhood, and that the excessive number of adipocytes remains constant and in some way causes a drive for maintaining the obese state. He points out a critical methodological problem in that only

Possible inter-relations between acidosis and creatine elimination

Current views associate the elimination of creatine with some perversion of carbohydrate metabolism. The probability of a close relationship of this sort is indicated by the well known fact that a deficiency of carbohydrate in the body leads to creatine elimination which may be checked promptly by ingestion of carbohydrate. There are experimental facts which the familiar hypothesis fails to explain. McCollum and Steenbock found that in the pig a diet of corn products led to the appearance of relatively large quantities of creatine in the urine. Similar experiments of Folin (reported at the December meeting of the American Society of Biological Chemists) with oat feeding yielded comparable results. The dietaries employed can scarcely be regarded as lacking in carbohydrate. Deficiency of carbohydrate usually means an accompanying acidosis, not necessarily caused by ketogenic substances, which presumably involve the tissues associated with creatine-creatinine metabolism. At any rate nearly every instance in which there is creatine in the urine is accompanied by an acidosis—generally a ketonuria also. These facts suggest the hypothesis that a condition of acidosis in the tissues is responsible for the appearance of creatine in the urine. To test it the following questions demand an answer. I. Will creatine appear in the urine, even in the presence of an abundant carbohydrate supply, if acidosis is induced? 2. Will the elimination of creatine disappear if the acidosis is abolished, quite independently of the factor of carbohydrate supply? Upon a diet of oats and corn, containing an adequate supply of carbohydrate, creatine promptly appears in the urine of the rabbit. A marked condition of acidosis, as measured by the hydrogen ion concentration of the urine, is always associated with this phenomenon. Oats and corn are pronounced acid-producing foods.